1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to interactive programming, and more particularly to a media independent method of creating, storing, and presenting interactive programming which emulates conversational responses and is capable of performing expert analysis.
2. Description of the Related Art
"Interactive" systems are well known in the art, especially in the context of interactive television or telephone systems. In most cases, the "interactivity" provided by these systems enables a user of the system to control what is seen or heard on the system by pressing buttons on a two-way controller or touch-tone keypad. However, these systems provide only a low level of conversational responsiveness.
Systems which emulate interactive conversation are also well known in the art. These systems use a variety of different techniques to achieve interactive conversation, and have ordinarily had limited success at conversations which were more than mere simple question and answer sessions. In the context of multiple choice response systems for children, such systems are exemplified in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,921,385; 3,020,360; 2,826,828; 3,623,238; 3,546,791; 3,273,260; 3,665,615; 3,245,157; 3,284,923; 3,538,621; 3,477,144; 3,708,891; 3,255,536; 2,777,901; 2,908,767; 3,774,316; 3,194,895; 3,484,950; 3,343,280; and 3,763,577, by way of example.
Various interactive television systems have also been developed. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,264,924, 4,264,925, and 4,507,680 (each of which is hereby incorporated by reference) disclose interactive cable television systems. A copending interactive system, entitled "Simulcast of Interactive Signals with a Conventional Video Signal", Ser. No. 08/289,499, filed on Aug. 12, 1994, provides an interactive system which is usable by both conventional television viewers and interactive television viewers. Another copending application, Ser. No. 08/166,608 (a continuation of Ser. No. 07/797,298, filed on Nov. 25, 1991, now abandoned), which was filed on Dec. 13, 1993, and is entitled "Compressed Digital-Data Interactive Television System" provides an interactive system with data compression and seamless switching. Other examples of interactivity utilizing television may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,602,279; 4,847,700; 4,573,072; 4,847,698; 4,847,699; and 4,918,516, for example. Generally, these systems require a separate microprocessor to perform selection and memory functions and are not concerned with expert system analysis.
While such prior systems have the flexibility and memory-like characteristics for establishing personalized interactive environments, they do not provide interactive programming which enables programming of media-independent complex interactive conversations in which the interactive conversation includes expert analysis of specific user problems, for example, financial analysis services, document creation, point-of-sale marketing systems, etc.
Some of the systems which are capable of performing expert analysis are known in the computer field as rule-based expert systems. In a rule-based expert system, a knowledge base provides expert-quality solutions to problems in a specific area. Generally, the information in the knowledge-base is extracted from human experts and the system attempts to emulate their problem-solving methodology. With their inherent limitations (see "Computer Engineering Handbook", C. H. Chen, Editor, McGraw-Hill, Inc. pp. 9.1-9.35), such systems are useful for performing expert analysis in certain situations. These expert systems have not been implemented on an interactive basis to a large audience.
What is needed is a system which can take interactive systems to the next level, a level which allows for more complex and thereby meaningful conversation and interaction between the system and the user. Such a system would perform expert analysis and be usable by a very large number of people simultaneously, and would not be limited to any particular transmission technology.